The agricultural industry consistently searches for methodologies to improve the yield of field crops. While new and improved varieties of corn, wheat, and soybeans have contributed greatly to increased yields at harvest, methodologies of field preparation and harvest can also impact crop yields either positively or negatively. The impact to the soil of crop harvesting operations is magnified for both grain and biomass when producers feel the need to harvest under less than optimum weather and/or soil conditions. Operation of combines to harvest the agricultural crops and the concurrent use of grain carts in the field have been identified as major contributors to soil compaction across agricultural fields as both combines and grain carts have both high gross and high axle weights.
Attempts have been made to control compaction during harvest through the use of controlled traffic lanes or designated tramlines for the harvesting equipment to traverse the field with little resulting impact because of operational issues. The major drivers of compaction are the use of grain carts used to speed harvest and the use of a grain harvester more commonly referred to as a combine. At the same time, farmers have attempted to address compaction issues by switching to radial tires, use of agricultural tracks, running dual/triple wheels, etc. However, when virtually the entire field is trampled by the combination of the grain cart and the combine, tramlines provide limited benefit.
Recognition of the impact of soil compaction on grain and biomass yields is rapidly growing, leading to interest in tramlines, both permanent and temporary, to create controlled traffic paths across fields. Effective use of tramlines can minimize the percentage of a field's surface which is impacted by soil compaction during grain harvest and other field operations. For example, by operating a grain cart in the travel tracks of the combine during a previous harvest pass, a temporary tramline can be created which exhibits some of the benefits of a permanent tramline, but that approach leaves significant room for improvement.
Soil scientists believe that there are conceptually two types of soil compaction. Deep compaction is driven by axle weight and near surface compaction is driven by ground pressure. While agricultural tracks have a conceptual advantage over tires, poor track design can result in an advantage for tires relative to compaction. One of the problems with agricultural tracks is the ground pressure peak that corresponds to the leading and trailing edge of poorly supported or improperly tensioned tracks.
Tramlines both minimize and control soil compaction in agricultural fields. Minimizing compaction increases the yield of both grain and associated biomass. Tramlines also minimize the run-down of biomass leading to enhanced biomass yields and higher biomass quality. The adoption of tramlines maximizes the quantity and quality of biomass that can effectively be removed from a field and hence the value of the biomass co-product produced by an agricultural field. At the same time, the routine use of tramlines minimizes soil compaction across a field and hence increases the production of both grain and associated biomass within a field. Concurrently, tramlines minimize the quantity of crop residue which is “run-down” during grain harvest—an important issue in maximizing the efficiency of biomass harvesting, maximizing biomass yields and optimizing biomass quality.
Increased biomass yields within a field reduces the harvest radius around a biomass processing plant, and correspondingly reduces harvesting and associated logistics costs. Further, increased biomass quality allows the operating processes of the biomass processing plant to be optimized.
Tramlines also makes feasible the harvesting of certain crops such as hay, crops grown for their chemical, food, nutraceutical or pharmaceutical properties such as oregano, at multiple times during the growing season. These multiple passes may be timed according to calendar, convenience, the plants' growth stage, etc. Multiple passes may also be used to harvest specific parts of a plant such as seed from two or more varieties/strains, etc. with different growth characteristics. For example, harvesting seed from two grass species where one species is short and the second tall; or where one forms seed early and the second one late in the growing season.
The appropriate harvesting of biomass can eliminate the need for deep tillage at the end of a crop cycle (which minimizes the oxidation of soil organic carbon which is also a factor in soil compaction) and allows adoption of no-till production in high residue crops which can also reduce compaction (and enhance soil organic carbon levels in soil). Both changes can concurrently reduce crop production expenses.
Sizing crop production equipment such as planters, sprayers, etc. to maximize the efficiency of tramlines is relatively easy, up to a point. Tramway layout and use is driven by equipment size. However, as combines and similar pieces of equipment get larger, the use of tramlines is thwarted by size. With a 30′ combine header, it is barely possible to run a combine down one tramway while unloading grain into a catch cart running down the next tramway over. With a 40′ header, it takes extraordinary extensions to the combine's unload auger and modifications to the catch cart to effectively utilize a tramway system. A 60′ header is in commercial use outside of the USA and there is a movement to develop a 60 foot corn head to match the size of current planters available from multiple manufacturers covering 24 rows at 2.5 feet per row (i.e., 60 feet in width). For these, full use of a tramway is physically challenging.
However, 48 row planters at 2.5 feet per row planters (i.e., 120 feet in width are commercially available from multiple manufacturers. To match the combine and the planter to a common set of tramlines would require a 120 foot header. To build such a system in a conventional way is near impossible as the engineering on the header would be complicated and heavy; and the combine used to process the grain would be significant in size leading to unique compaction issues. Therefore, a header for use on a grain harvester is needed wherein a maximum field area can be covered with minimal soil compaction.